6 ways to turn your blog into a conversion machine.

Blogging about your business can be a critical driver of your online success. Businesses that blog drive 55% more traffic to their site than businesses that don’t blog. It is a natural means for search engines, and users to discover your brand because each and every blog entry you create acts as a new entry point for potential customers to discover your site. Blogging about your industry drives prospects and, if done right, converts them into customers.

When you write about your industry you’re creating valuable information and making it available to search. You’re also adding a wider range of content to your site, which increases your business’ ability to be found. Your experience within your industry makes you a resource of knowledge that potential customers will undoubtedly be seeking out. Your blog is your company’s arena to talk about that expertise, and establish itself as a thought leader within your industry.

You should write articles that speak to specific programs or services that you offer, making sure to also enhance the keyword density on your site by choosing words that are commonly searched for, which are related to that topic, and then including them in your articles.

The main goal of your company blog is to attract readers and convert them into leads. There are many resources out there that talk about blogging software, and integrating your blog software with your SEO and lead generation tools, so we won’t get into that in this article. Instead, we’ll talk about specific tips and tricks that will turn your blog into a conversion machine for your company.

1. Identify Key Words

One of the first steps that you should take before writing articles for your company’s blog is identifying key words that you could use related to your desired topic. Using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, or WordTracker, you can identify what words and phrases get the most search traffic for inclusion inside of your article.

By determining the keywords and phrases that bring visitors to your website, you’re increasing the likelihood of your articles being discovered and converting the right visitors into leads. When you write blog posts that contain keywords relevant to your industry or business, the keyword density on your website will increase and result in more visitors and opportunities to convert those visitors into leads.

Once you have identified which keywords related to your topic drive the most traffic, it’s time to write your blog article, making sure to include those keywords. Don’t forget to optimize each article for SEO by adding meta data to support the article and be sure that the keywords you have identified are prominent in your meta data as well.

2. Develop a theme

People often Google “How To xyz” or “The Best xyz” articles when they have a problem they are attempting to solve. Many analytical studies have been conducted on the success rate of certain types of articles and most of that research has concluded that instructional blog posts always drive better traffic.

What we have found is that people are more inclined to click on “How To”, instructional articles returned by a search, such as “How to be more proactive within your community”. After you have provided valuable information to your readers, you can include links to other relevant resources on your site that readers might want to purchase, including your company’s core products or service offerings.

3. Provide value

A common mistake that businesses make when creating blog content for their company website is writing promotional articles or press release style articles about their company.

Be careful about only creating “SEO content.” Blog articles need to be something that people want to read about and relevant to what they were searching for. Make sure that your blog articles are providing strong, relevant, informational content. If the content is weak and doesn’t solve the customer’s problem, it will not be as effective. In order to make sure your blogging efforts pay off, you really need create interesting articles that will offer value to your audience.

Don’t use your blog to re-purpose press releases, brochures, or other content originally created for marketing, PR, or advertising. Readers can smell a blatant pitch a mile away.

What’s new in your industry? What direction do you see the industry going? How can your clients leverage companies like yours to achieve success?

Doing some research before composing an article by reading other blogs and their comments will help you figure out what your audience will want to read and learn about, that is what you should write. Writing quality articles about your industry is one of the best ways to stand out among your competition.

Publish quality blog posts as often as possible, as this practice will increase the number of indexed pages on your website and help spread awareness for your brand.

Proper Article Titles

An article title is a lot like a book title. Many people who don’t know exactly what they’re looking for will buy a book or read your article based on an intriguing title alone. On social media, especially on Twitter, people don’t statistically read articles with really long titles. When sharing your article on a social network, or through an email marketing campaign, a properly constructed title that grabs the attention of readers will be very important. The title of your article may be the deciding factor in a prospective client reading your article or not. Titles that show that your post is full of value will go a long way to drawing leads to your site. Here’s a few useful headline templates that you can use as a reference when creating posts:

1. How to …

2. 5/10/etc. (Guaranteed, Sure-Fire, etc.) Ways to …

3. What everybody ought to know about …

4. Little known ways to …

4. Calls to action

Create a funnel for your consumers. Your blog article is the top of the funnel, where users enter your website, the bottom of the funnel being the consumer performing whatever action you’re considering to be a conversion. Always include a Call to Action at the bottom of each blog post to point users deeper through your funnel.

You should also consider adding 1-3 calls to action in the sidebar of your blog. Select 1-3 products/services that are related to the blog article’s overarching theme and keywords related to those initiatives and link them to related pages within your website designed to convert.

A newsletter or e-mail signup form at the bottom of every blog post, above the comments section can also be an effective way to generate leads, or interest in your business.

5. Post regularly

In order for your blogging effort to be a successful conversion machine for your business, you need to be consistent. Feed your blog with new posts, on a regular schedule in order to maintain your reputation as a thought leader, increase buzz about your company on social media, raise your rankings in search results, and increase your business’ footprint on the web.

6. Go Social

Once you’ve written an article, it only makes sense to leverage social networks to spread the word about your recently penned masterpiece. Social networks and blogging work together to help reinforce your brand’s depth of knowledge on a subject with the public. Tools like HootSuite can help to automate this process to an extent and share your article multiple times within a given period to help keep traffic coming into your site from social avenues.

The content you share on these networks links back to your website, which increases the number of inbound links to your site. Search engines find favor with websites with many inbound links. Content is the new currency of the Internet. By sharing your blog articles on the web, you will grow your social reach and establish your business as an expert source in your field.

Recap Checklist:

• Provide valuable content for your general target audience
• Include posts with “How-To” or “Top 10” topics
• Always include a Call to Action
• Add Calls to Action in the sidebar of your blog
• Select and include keywords related to the overarching theme of the post
• Link to related pages that allow for conversion
• Make the trip from the top of the funnel to the bottom as short as possible
• Ensure landing pages are simple and well-designed
• Include an email or newsletter signup form at the bottom of every blog post
• Share every blog post on social media using tools like HootSuite

By following these steps, you will be on the right track to creating a funnel that starts at your blog, routes them through relevant pages on your site, and ends with conversions.

Thoughts, questions? Leave them in the comments and contact us if you’d like assistance in building your business’ blogging strategy.